Oakland Raiders defeats go beyond the defense

By Jeremy Hayes

Daniel Shirey- US Presswire

The Oakland Raiders have shown this year that their defense looks like one of the worst in the NFL.

That being said, the Raiders’ defense is where the problems start, but certainly not where they end. The Raiders defense has only given up more than 10 points in the first half in a game once this season. Where is the offense?

Fans are so quick to criticize the defensive secondary of the Raiders, but never complain about the terrible running game and lack of being able to put points on the board as an offense. The Raiders give up an average of 29.6 points a game on defense, but also only score an average of 17.4 points on offense, which makes them one of the worst scoring teams in the league.

There should be no excuse for why they can not put together scoring drives, Carson Palmer is surprisingly doing well with a Raider offense that has been so bad in the past. The problem is that they can not put scoring drives together, to often they end drives with field goals.

The defense can only hold the opponent for so long, and honestly, the Raiders should have anticipated the secondary not being as dominant as the defensive line. Of course teams are going to pass the ball, to avoid Richard Seymour’s defensive line. This means teams can pick off the Raider secondary, and run on plays where the Raiders play a safe zone. Teams can use a balanced attack to defeat the Raiders by doing what they fail at, and that is completing long drives for touchdowns.

Palmer lacks leadership, Darren McFadden is under-performing by astonishing numbers, everything about the defense can be better, and they could win a lot more without giving up plays off of dumb mistakes.

Oakland fans need to look beyond the defensive struggles and wake up to see that kicker Sebastian Janikowski has scored 37 of 87 total points for the Raiders. The offense can not win for the Raiders.

The Raiders are the second worst scoring team in the league, and will play the worst scoring team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, this Sunday.